Menopause is something most women will need to deal with at some point. It is the cessation of the menstrual cycle and marks a new part of one’s life. The various symptoms are equally dreaded and welcomed depending on your perspective. After all, there is a certain freedom that comes with that time of one’s life. All of the symptoms that occur during menopause are informing you of the changes that your body is going through, though. The changes in hormone levels necessarily result in broad changes throughout the body. The problem is simply that they aren’t always pleasant. Why, though? We’re going to look at what your body is telling, why, and what to expect so that you have a clear understanding of what your body is telling you.

The Broader Picture
The best way of summarizing menopause is, in a way, withdrawals. Almost everyone is addicted, to one level or another, to their own mix of hormones. They are what make our body function, after all, and help ensure that we feel good about everything. Menopause causes drastic shifts in the availability of estrogen and other hormones that your body is used to and your body craves having the “right” levels. Without them, your body suffers and you begin to feel the effects of all the changes as your body shifts to make the most of what it has now. It is seldom pleasant for anyone, but the level of addiction’s variation does mean some of us have an easier time than others. The fact that we are basically going through withdrawals makes symptoms such as depression and mood swings entirely understandable.

Shifting Desires
It is important to note that libido is typically highly affected by menopause. There is no one direction that this necessarily takes though. The broadest trend indicates that many women begin to have lower libido due to the lowering levels of estrogen decreasing overall sensitivity to arousal and potential increased issues engaging in sexual activity. Doctors do have treatments available to help with such issues if they are unwelcome, though. It can be as simple as a prescription, but it is important to talk about all your options so that you know the risks of each possible option available to you. However, there are some women that experience an increase in their libido during menopause. The reasons for this are not well known, but may be connected to a greater sense of freedom and lesser worries of an unexpected pregnancy. Each of these is perfectly normal regardless of which you experience and offers you a new perspective on life.

Difficult Maintenance
The decrease in estrogen, as we highlighted earlier, means that your body has trouble doing all that it did before. This necessarily translates into broad-reaching troubles around your body as issues become more prominent. A big one is the difficulty in maintaining muscle tone and strength increasingly as menopause progresses. Your body’s trouble maintaining your muscles is directly connected to the muscle aches and pains associated with menopause. They can occur across the body, but frequently occur around the joints due to the amount of daily wear and tear. Similarly, the skin begins to have issues snapping back like it once did and experiences difficulty maintaining overall firmness as the boost to extra collagen production that most women enjoy wears off. Exercise and good skincare can help minimize the discomfort from these issues, but they are to be expected.

Estrogen supports countless systems in women’s bodies and keeps them happy and healthy. The loss as we age necessarily means our bodies have to learn how to do things again. It is a trying time, but it doesn’t have to feel like the end of your life. It is a new start in which you can learn to enjoy new things as you can expect your tastes to shift some as well. Use it as an excuse to get out there and experience life anew.